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Tickeling Leo

An endearing and very engaging fictional family’s ties and hidden history , linked to an actual historic event (the Kasztner train rescue of beleaguered Hungarian Jews in 1943).

JOY’S REVIEW

“TICKLING LEO” is well meant, probably autobiographical, but difficult to watch. It features an opening scene of a fairly ancient man wandering around completely nude, and yeah, we get a complete frontal. And we had the sense that he’s both a free spirit and a bit mad, which is true. He lives in the wild of some state that’s unclear, probably Vermont. It turns out, as the movie unfolds, I suppose, is that he has son who has a new girlfriend, who turns out to be pregnant, who comes up to visit. As we find out during the movie, this was a man who watched his father kill his mother during the Holocaust because his father was arranging for rich Jews to leave Germany on a train. Apparently it’s based on a true story, a true event, but it’s painful. I’m not even sure about what the movie is about. Eli Wallach shows up at the very end, and we wait breathlessly for him. I suppose it’s about reconciliation and forgiveness, but it takes an awfully long time to get there, even though I think the movie is probably only about 90 minutes. And, again, it’s well meaning, but uncomfortable to watch, and I don’t feel like you know anything differently, except about the one event, then you knew at the beginning. It’s a lot of pain for not much pay off. One star.JOY METER★★★★★